Wall Street just got a new sign that dealmaking is making a comeback.
Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) reported third-quarter results Wednesday afternoon that showed investment banking fees were up 47% from a year ago and 18% from the prior quarter.
Those numbers were slightly below what analysts expected, and the stock fell in after-hours trading by 1%.
But the stock is up 53% since the beginning of the year.
Jefferies’ results offer investors the first official look at how a rebound in investment banking is playing out across Wall Street after a two-year-long drought. Larger rivals JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) report their third-quarter earnings on October 11.
Big banks reaped higher profits from a recovery in M&A, IPOs and debt underwriting over the first half of 2024.
But it’s not yet clear how that will play out over the second half as corporate clients digest new rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and uncertainties about everything from the fate of the US economy to the outcome of the US Presidential election.
But some other big banks have hinted that investment banking was also up in the third quarter.
Earlier this month Citigroup CFO Mark Mason told investors his company’s investment banking fees were likely “up 20% year over year” while JPMorgan’s COO Daniel Pinto said those same fees would be up “around 15% plus/minus” compared with the same year-ago period.
Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan told investors these fees were “basically flattish.” Bank of America reports earnings the week after JPMorgan and Citigroup.
At Jefferies, the firm’s mergers and acquisitions advisory operations posted revenue of $592 million, up 108%. Total investment banking fees rose to $949 million.
Revenues from its IPO underwriting business, however, fell by 2.6%.
“We are pleased with the strength and direction of our profit margin and return metrics, and are optimistic about the balance of this year and our outlook for 2025,” Jefferies CEO Richard Handler and President Brian Friedman said in a statement.
Where Jefferies exceeded analyst expectation was in its trading operations, where revenues of $670 million were up 28% from the year-ago period. That boost was driven by equity trading.
The trading picture may not be as rosy for all of Jefferies’ larger rivals.
Citi’s Mason earlier this month warned of a decline in trading of “down roughly 4%” compared with the year ago period, driven in part by bond market volatility over August.
JPMorgan and Bank of America are expecting slightly better trading performance for the period, both up slightly in the low single digits.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said two weeks ago that trading revenue is expected to fall 10% in the third quarter from a year ago, citing an “extremely strong quarter in 2023” and “a more challenging macro environment, particularly in the month of August.”
Solomon didn’t share expectations for Goldman’s investment banking performance, though he did indicate some disappointment in deal flow from the private equity community.
“I’ve been surprised that the financial sponsor activity has not turned on as quickly as I would have expected,” Solomon said at the Barclays event.
“But I expect as we go through the rest of the fall and into 2025, we’re going to see that financial sponsor activity pick up a little bit more.”
David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance.
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